Wells are generally drilled into a land surface or ocean bed to recover natural deposits of oil and gas, as well as other natural resources that are trapped in geological formations in the Earth's crust. Formation evaluation and other downhole tools and operations have become increasingly complex and expensive as wellbores are drilled deeper and through more difficult materials. Such wellbores present increasingly harsher environments, where temperature may exceed 250 degrees Celsius and pressure may exceed 30,000 pounds per square inch (PSI).
In various oil and gas exploration operations, it may be beneficial to have information about the geological formations that are penetrated by the wellbore. In some cases, a drilling tool may be provided with devices to test and/or sample the surrounding formation. Sometimes, the drilling tool may be removed and a wireline tool may be deployed into the wellbore to test and/or sample the formation. These samples and/or tests may be used, for example, to locate the hydrocarbon deposits and to predict the production capacity and production lifetime of the formation. Formation evaluation often entails drawing fluid from the formation into a downhole tool and analyzing and/or testing the extracted fluid samples at the surface. In cases where a sample of fluid drawn into the tool, the sample may be collected in one or more sample chambers or bottles positioned within the downhole tool.
Extreme downhole conditions may subject a sampling bottle to a variety of loads, including but not limited to tension, compression, hydraulic force, shock, and vibrations. Such loads can damage the bottle and/or otherwise compromise the accuracy and even operation of the bottle. Furthermore, air trapped within the sampling bottle may cause large pressure differentials, which may damage the bottle and/or cause wellbore fluid to leak into the bottle and/or compromise the quality of the sample formation fluid by altering its petrophysical properties. Wellbore fluid may introduce particulate matter and other contaminants into the bottle, which may accumulate within the bottle and/or adhere to internal components of the bottle, interfering with bottle operations.